THE EARLY UNICORNS AND THE HEAVY GROATS OF JAMES III AND JAMES IV JOAN E. L. MURRAY THE heavy groats of James III and IV were issued for about twelve years from 1484, while the period covered by the classes of unicorn considered in this article is believed to extend a few years later. The primary object of the article is to put forward the argu- ments1 for a revised sequence of the four types of heavy groat and the five classes of unicorn which need to be distinguished, and to consider their dating, together with the relevant historical context. Details of dies and die-combinations have in general been omitted, although a die-analysis covering the major collections has been carried out. DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE The main documentary evidence about the period of the heavy groats is in a series of Acts of Parliament, there being no Council records nor indentures extant for this period. It is convenient to summarize the most relevant parts of these Acts.2 24 February 1483/4.3 This ordained 'a fyne penny of gold ... to be of wecht and finace to the Rose noble and a penny of silvir to be equale in finace to the auld Inglis groit and ten of thame to mak the unce of silvir and to have cours and gang for xiiijJ... to have sic prent and circumscripcioun as salbe avisit be the kingis hienes'. The gold piece was to pass for thirty of the groats; a half-groat and gold pieces of the value of twenty and ten groats were also specified. 26 May 1485.4 This repeated the former provisions. It raised the buying price for silver bullion by Ad. per ounce to 12s., and authorized the striking of a small proportion of the silver in pennies. All other money, particularly placks and half-placks, was to be current at the values previously proclaimed. 1 Some of the arguments of this article were Rotuli Scaccarii Regum Scotorum, The Exchequer summarized by Stewart, with acknowledgement, in Rolls of Scotland; Acta Dom. Cone. = Acta Domi- the second edition of The Scottish Coinage (1967). norum Concilii, The Acts of the Lords of Council in Since this book is likely to remain a standard work Civil Causes; PSAS = Proceedings of the Society of for many years, it seemed right to make unpublished Antiquaries of Scotland-, Rich. = A. B. Richardson, work available for it (even though incomplete), Catalogue of the Scottish Coins in the National Museum particularly where this cast doubt on the classification of Antiquities of Scotland, Edinburgh. C.-P. references, adopted in the original edition (1955). when available, are given in preference to APS, etc., 2 The following abbreviations will be used: as more convenient for numismatists. B. = E. Burns, The Coinage of Scotland (1887), ii 3 C.-P. 39. Here and elsewhere I have followed the and figs.; B. Cat. = E. Burns, Catalogue of a Series original spelling as reproduced in the printed records, of Coins and Medals . Exhibited at the Meeting except in two particulars. Like R. W. Cochran- of the British Association (Glasgow, 1876); S. = I. H. Patrick, 1 have used y, not z, for consonantal y. I have Stewart, The Scottish Coinage (1967); C.-P. = R. W. also adopted the modern distinction between u and Cochran-Patrick, Records of the Coinage of Scotland, i; v, to help the reader, which is in accordance with APS = The Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland', editorial policy for some (at least) of the more recently RMS = Registrum Magni Sigilli Regum Scotorum, published records. Thus I have quoted 'silvir' rather The Register of the Great Seal of Scotland', CTS = than 'siluir' and 'unicarnys' rather than 'vnicarnys' Compota Thesauriorum Regum Scotorum, Accounts of (and similarly where w represents modern v). the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland', Exch. Rolls = 4 C-P. 40. UNICORNS AND HEAVY GROATS OF JAMES III AND JAMES IV 63 (1486).1 The 'new plakkis last cunyeit' were withdrawn, and the silver refined from all placks received at the mint was to be used for 'ane new penny of fyne silvir like the xiiijtf. grote ordanit of befoir'. 17 October 1488.2 This Act of the first Parliament of James IV exactly repeated the earlier provisions about weights and values. Alexander Levintoun (or Levingstoun) was to continue as moneyer. 14 January 1488/9.3 A new silver coinage with the same standards was ordained, 'to have prent sic As the xiiijY/. grote has that now Is / Except that the visage sail stand eyvyn in the new groit'. A gold coinage with the same standards as French crowns was also ordained, the types being specified in this case as the arms of Scotland and the king enthroned. 3 February 1489/90.4 'A trew substancius man' was to be made 'maister of the money and cunye', and the existing standards were repeated for the silver, but 'This said cunye sail haf a signe and takin maid in the prenting hafand difference fra the first cunye.' BACKGROUND Before going into detail about the coins struck in this period, it is desirable to fill in some of the background. Up to the middle of the sixteenth century the standards and types of the silver coinage of Scotland were influenced mainly by those of England. Although there were long periods when the weight standards were different, conformity with England was re-established in 1357 and 1451, as well as in 1484, and also proposed in 1366 and 1424. These weight standards, when laid down in terms of the Scottish Troy ounce, may actually have been slightly below those of England, since at the union of the crowns the Scottish mint ounce was found to be lighter than the English Troy one by nearly nine English grains. Presumably the same was true of the Scottish ounce in the fifteenth century, but certainly no account was taken of such a difference in quoting the standard weight in 1451: according to the Act of Parliament in that year, new money 'conformit evin in wecht to the mone of Inglande' was to be struck, at eight groats to the ounce, and to have the same currency value as 'the Inglis grote of the quhilk viij grottis haldis ane unce'.5 Soon after the 1464 reduction in the weight of English silver coins, there was a change in Scotland (probably in 1467), but this was a more drastic weight reduction, the new light groats being struck at twelve to the ounce. Light groats of this character continued to be struck under James III until 1484 and are divided into three groups, I, III, and IV in Stewart's classification. In 1484 they made way for an issue of heavy groats, struck at ten to the ounce, virtually the current English standard. There was a return to the light groat standard in the next reign, probably in 1496, and these light groats of James IV will be considered in some detail below, because of their correspondence to certain unicorns. There were parallel half-groats of the light and heavy coinages, and fine silver pennies, worth 3d. Scots, of the light coinages only. These silver pennies, like the light groats of both reigns, were distinguished by mullets alternating with three pellets 1 C.-P. 41, but erroneously dated 26 May 1485. May, and evidence in Exch. Rolls proves that this was The editorial dating to 1486 in APS may be based on in 1486. the evidence about the withdrawal of the placks: the 2 C.-P. 46. 3 C.-P. 47. terminal date for receiving them was the last day of 4 C.-P. 48. 5 C.-P. 19. 64 THE EARLY UNICORNS AND THE HEAVY GROATS in the angles of the reverse cross. Of these various coins only the light groats can be allocated without difficulty to their respective reigns; some bear a regnal numeral, some were struck at Berwick, which was in Scottish hands from 1461 to 1482, and in James IV's reign the reverse legend was different. The fine silver was supported by a variety of base coins. With the fall in value of the Scottish money of account, the use of fine silver for coins of the value of Id. and \d. Scots was abandoned in 1393: for about a century after that, the English reverse type of three pellets in each angle of a Long Cross pattee was retained on these coins, while the size and fineness fell considerably. The James III pennies of this type are of Stewart classes A and C, of which Civ and Cv (or at least Cva) must have accompanied group IV light groats, since the same head and crown punches were used for these billon pennies and for the silver pennies of that group. The reverse type was varied for two classes of penny, Stewart classes B and D, perhaps to indicate different currency values, pennies of class B apparently being baser than the contemporary pennies of normal type, while class D pennies, which are associated with the heavy groats, are considerably finer. The normal type was continued in what I shall call class E of James III, and likewise at the beginning of James IV's reign, first with annulet stops and ornaments, then with saltire stops (S. types 1 and 2 of the first issue). With the light groats of James IV the three-pellet type of billon penny was finally abandoned, the new type having crown alternating with lis in the angles of the reverse cross. Other base coins were introduced in James Ill's reign.